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iMac Freeze

J

jaydennz

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 30, 2014
30
2
Wellington, New Zealand
Hey guys,

My iMac G4 17" 1.25 freezes every time I use it. Trying to reinstall the OS it gets to the select install media screen then freezes sometime before you can click continue. Once this happens it won't boot any further than the chime. If I let it rest for a while it will boot as far as it did the first time. Already reset the little button on the bottom but doesn't help. Any ideas what the issue is?

Thanks
 
jaydennz said:
Hey guys,



My iMac G4 17" 1.25 freezes every time I use it. Trying to reinstall the OS it gets to the select install media screen then freezes sometime before you can click continue. Once this happens it won't boot any further than the chime. If I let it rest for a while it will boot as far as it did the first time. Already reset the little button on the bottom but doesn't help. Any ideas what the issue is?



Thanks
Click to expand...


Could be a power or RAM issue.
 
jaydennz said:
Are blown caps visible?



I wouldnt say it's random, it's pretty consistent when it freezes, about 2 mins into boot
Click to expand...


Since it sometimes freezes in the boot selector before drives are probed I think this is a cap issue. If the hard drive is shot it would probably freeze as booting and not in the boot selector.
 
jaydennz said:
Oh man! Those are pretty much unfixable right?
Click to expand...

Well... you could do a soldering job or board replacement. Let's rule out simple parts first. You say it sometimes locks up in the boot selector (holding Opt at boot). Try pulling it apart and disconnecting the hard drive and using the boot selector. If it doesn't freeze then you may have a fatally damaged drive causing it to throw mixed signals to OpenFirmware, thus crashing the boot selector. Also, did you reapply thermal paste to the contact points when you swapped the RAM?
 
I booted without the hdd, it got to the ? Screen, flashed for a while then froze. I put the old hdd back in and got the KP below. Then it wouldn't boot for a while. Think it might be a hardware problem
 

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jaydennz said:
I booted without the hdd, it got to the ? Screen, flashed for a while then froze. I put the old hdd back in and got the KP below. Then it wouldn't boot for a while. Think it might be a hardware problem
Click to expand...

What happens if you try a new hard drive? I am not convinced that it isn't a hard drive as the freezing on the ?/Finder screen is not uncommon on iMac G4s. After a set time I have seen iMac G4s freeze like you describe. Would it be possible to do a RAM test as well?
 
jaydennz said:
I have tried a brand new hdd from owc as well as the original one. Likewise with ram. No idea what more I can test
Click to expand...

If you can get someone to test with ASD (Apple Service Diagnostics) then you may be able to get a clear result on what is malfunctioning. Unfortunately, this is something that was never released to the public but an AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider) may have a copy to test with.
 
Thanks, will give that a go, although most AASPs run scared when they see a PowerPC Mac in New Zealand haha. We don't have Apple Stores here either unfortunately
 
I can't really read what the screen error message says but I was having an issue with a similar screen when I replaced the RAM and HDD on my iMac G4.

I did a PRAM reset and let it sit overnight (not sure if this is needed, but I got fed up and watched a movie, then went to bed). I had the original 512 MB RAM inside and everything worked. Once I installed OS X I swapped out the internal RAM for the new 1 GB and everything's been great so far.

Before the the PRAM reset though nothing was working properly.
 
davidg4781 said:
I can't really read what the screen error message says but I was having an issue with a similar screen when I replaced the RAM and HDD on my iMac G4.



I did a PRAM reset and let it sit overnight (not sure if this is needed, but I got fed up and watched a movie, then went to bed). I had the original 512 MB RAM inside and everything worked. Once I installed OS X I swapped out the internal RAM for the new 1 GB and everything's been great so far.



Before the the PRAM reset though nothing was working properly.
Click to expand...


A bit odd but I am glad it is working!
 
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